Daemons
by ninemelodies
Summary: Noctis was being forced to watch as his best friend loses his mind, and there's absolutely nothing he can do about it.


Alive. Prompto was alive and Noctis's vision blurred as relief overwhelmed him. He had been so sure that all Ardyn would leave for Noctis to find was Prompto's corpse. Despite that fear, Prompto seemed to be untouched, maybe a little paler than usual, but Noctis chalked that up to having been locking in a jail cell for about a week.

Soon after his rescue, Prompto revealed that he was supposed to be an MT, that he had the same barcode marking his flesh that they did. Not that it made any difference to anyone in their group. Prompto was still Prompto, Noctis's best friend, and nothing, not even where Prompto came from, could change that.

So they continued along like nothing had happened. They rescued Prompto, got the hell out of the abandoned imperial prison/lab he was being held in, and headed for the imperial capital, where Ardyn and the Crystal waited.

Ignis, with the help of Gladio, figured that it would take about two weeks to reach the imperial capital. They were forced to travel on foot. The Regalia was totaled, trains were too risky, and there was no way Noctis was letting Ignis ride a chocobo in his current state. So walking it was, a slow march across the plains to the place where this would finally end.

Most of the time they camped at nearby havens for fear of imperial spies in the cities. About two nights after Prompto's rescue, Noctis began to notice something...off about the blond. They were sitting around the campfire, eating whatever Ignis had cooked when Noctis let his eyes slide around to look at each of his friends in turn. Gladio and Ignis were chatting about something on the other side of the fire, so he moved on to Prompto who was staring off into a dark spot beyond the reach of the firelight. Prompto's plate of food remained untouched in his lap, and his camera was on the ground next to his chair.

Unnerved but unwilling to bring it up just yet, Noctis reached down to grab Prompto's camera and see what pictures the blond had taken today. He turned it on and was greeted with the same pictures as last night. Eyebrows furrowing, he glanced over to Prompto again, only to realize the blond had stood up and was wandering into the shadows. As Noctis watched, Prompto sat down on the edge of the haven and let his feet dangle.

That was it, Noctis decided. Prompto was acting weird and Noctis would be damned if he didn't at least try to figure out why. Determined, he stood up from his chair and made his way to sit next to Prompto.

Startled by the prince's sudden movement, Ignis and Gladio had cut their conversation short and were watching Noctis.

Noctis turned to his friend, trying to get even a glimpse of Prompto's face in the soft light emitted by the campfire. All he could see were shadows and the gleam of Prompto's eyes. "Prompto," Noctis called, trying to get his friend to move, to acknowledge him, to do something other than stare out into the darkness of the night. He tried again, his voice firmer. "Prompto." When there was still no response, the prince huffed and grabbed Prompto's arm.

As soon as Noctis's fingers came into contact with Prompto's skin, the blond jerked back. His head whipped around, wide eyes locked dead with Noctis's. He was breathing heavily, and had the look of a deer caught in the headlights.

From behind him, he heard Ignis call out to Prompto. This caused the blond to twitch, and for an instant his eyes were drawn to Ignis, but quickly snapped back to Noctis when the prince moved.

Prompto licked his lips, eyes darting between the three of them. "Who…." his voice cracked, "Who are you? Where am I? Did you guys kidnap me?" With each question, Prompto's words got faster and so did his breathing. For whatever reason, Prompto couldn't remember them at all and he was terrified.

Slowly, Noctis raised his hands up in what he hoped was an 'I mean you no harm' gesture. "Prompto, we're your friends." When Prompto just continued to stare unblinkingly at him, Noctis spoke again. "You're at a haven, we've been walking for two days. You helped set up that tent over there." Prompto's eyes flicked over to the tent and then back to Noctis.

This time it was Ignis who spoke up. "I'm not quite sure what is going on, but perhaps Prompto's camera and the pictures he takes could be of help." Gladiolus was already on it, and had dropped Prompto's camera into Noctis's lap by the time Ignis was finished speaking. Noctis took a moment to nod his thanks to Gladiolus, who would pass the message to Ignis before turning back to Prompto.

"This is your camera. You took every single picture on here." And with that, Noctis turned the camera on and handed it to Prompto.

Still unsure, Prompto hesitantly took the camera. His eyes flickered down to the picture on the screen, a picture he had taken of Ignis just last night. He flipped to the next picture, one of Gladiolus taking down a Sabertusk. He kept flipping, his thumb never stilling until he reached a picture of all four of them together, crowded around a girl in a bright yellow jacket. Here he paused and he blinked, once, twice, and then he looked back up at Noctis.

"I still can't believe Cindy let us take this shot!" Prompto sighed. "She's so pretty….." And just like that, Prompto was back to normal. "What're we doing on the ground?" It seemed like Prompto had just realized where he was and he hopped up. "I mean I know Gladio likes camping and all but this seems to be taking it too far when we have chairs right there."

Everyone seemed to be too stunned to do anything but stare at Prompto. Noctis looked from Prompto to Gladio before he decided that it really wasn't worth the headache to bring it up again. Obviously Prompto didn't remember anything that had happened.

Even so, Noctis couldn't help replying the event in his head as he laid down to sleep that night. He wasn't sure if it was the firelight playing tricks on his eyes, but as Prompto had stared at him, Noctis swore the blonds eyes seemed to flicker from their normal blue to a dull, gunmetal grey. Unnerved and confused, Noctis rolled over and fell off into a fitful slumber.

Throughout the week, Prompto continued to act stranger and stranger. He had stopped taking pictures entirely, had traded his faithful gun for something resembling more of a sword, and was more aggressive than Noctis had ever seen him before. Prompto stopped paying attention to who was friend and who was foe during battle, and more than once he had swung on friend. One time he swung at Ignis and would have killed him, if Gladiolus hadn't been there to knock him back to reality.

But Prompto's problems didn't just lie in battle. He was becoming increasingly forgetful, he would zone out often when they were walking, and there were times when his voice would cut out and be replaced with what sounded like static from a tv. They had tried to laugh it off, but Noctis had a growing suspicion that Ardyn had done something to Prompto.

Prompto steadily got worse. By the time they were an hours march from the capital, Noctis had taken all of Prompto's weapons and revoked the power to summon them. Noctis hated to do it to his friend, but he had to. There was no way he could trust Prompto in battle anymore, not after he had tried to set Gladio on fire and kill Ignis after taking out a behemoth. If Noctis was being completely honest, even just sleeping next to Prompto now was enough to set his nerves on edge. The blond had changed, somewhere deep inside, and Noctis was scared there would be no fixing whatever it was.

That night, in an abandoned hotel not even an hour from the capital, Noctis woke up with a cold sweat. He had dreamed about something terrible happening, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember anything that happened. Only one thing stuck in his mind, the dream had been about Prompto.

Noctis flipped over, staring at the bed where Ignis and Prompto had been sleeping. It was hard to make out in the dark, but Noctis was pretty sure the side of the bed where Prompto had been was empty. Quickly, Noctis got out of bed, being extra careful to make sure he didn't wake up Gladiolus.

The door to their room was ajar, which was strange because Noctis was sure Gladiolus had locked it the night before. Someone, probably Prompto had gone through it. So he followed suit, and slowly opened the door further. In the dim light cast by the moon through the broken hallway roof, he could see someone pacing back and forth, back and forth.

As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he became aware that it was Prompto walking along the hallway. His first instinct was to call out, to get Prompto to come back into their room before a daemon showed up, but something stopped him. There was something off about Prompto's walk. After a minute of watching, he finally placed why it looked so familiar. It was the same walk the patrolling MTs had when Noctis was going to rescue Prompto.

From the room behind him, Gladiolus let out a loud snore and Noctis cringed back as Prompto stopped and started walking towards the sound. Noctis knew that, at least for right now, this wasn't Prompto standing in front of him, but an MT. Aware of just how close Prompto was to discovering where they were all sleeping, Noctis stepped back into the room, right onto a discarded stick. The resounding snap caused Prompto's eyes to snap right to him. The soulless grey of them caused Noctis to shiver.

For a while they just stood there, having a staredown until Prompto lunged for Noctis. Suddenly, Noctis was glad that he had taken all of Prompto's weapons. Noctis dodged out of the way of Prompto's grasping hands. He warped around behind the blond, and did his best to knock him down, but whatever had changed in Prompto had apparently made him a lot stronger too. Noctis rammed into the blond and Prompto didn't even waver.

Prompto reached around and grabbed Noctis by the collar. He raised Noctis up inches up above the floor and just held him there, staring him down. Noctis struggled but the blond's grip was firm.

Out of nowhere, the flat edge of a broadsword slammed into the back of Prompto's head and down went the blond. Noctis was roughly dropped back to the floor. From the shadows stepped Gladiolus, who was examining the fallen Prompto. When he spoke it wasn't words Noctis really wanted to hear.

"We have to tie him up."

But Noctis knew that they did have to, so with a heavy heart, Noctis pulled out some spare duct tape and set about wrapping his friend up in it. Prompto never moved during it.

In fact, Prompto didn't move again until they were halfway to the capital, the buildings looming around them and casting long shadows on the ground. Gladiolus had taken to carrying Prompto over his shoulder, and so was quite startled when the blond suddenly shifted and groaned.

"Guys, I think I'm going crazy." Prompto spoke like his mouth was filled with cotton, and if Noctis listened hard enough, there was the faint white noise sound in the echos of Prompto's voice.

Noctis let out a bitter laugh. "Prompto, what do you remember of last night?"

"I…" the blond paused, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to remember. "I remember laying down to sleep and then…." He stopped again, slowly taking in where he was and the fact that his arms were duct taped to his side. The look on his face was one of complete heartbreak. "I did something bad again, didn't I?" When no one answered he continued on. "I...Ardyn did something to my head when we were alone in that lab. He...he said he was freeing me, and that soon I wouldn't be the weakest link in the group anymore...that I would be as strong as the rest of you." Prompto couldn't bring himself to look anyone in the eyes. "I'm not-"

"He activated whatever program was inside you that turns humans into MTs." Ignis adjusted his glasses as he felt all attention being turned to him. "I took the liberty of taking some files from where Prompto was being held, and I had Gladiolus read them to me."

Gladiolus nodded. "We weren't really sure that's what was happening until last night. Noct, Prompto is only going to get worse."

"Once the degeneration program has been started, it can't be stopped," Ignis's voice was grave.

This meant Prompto was really going to become an MT and Noctis wasn't sure how to handle the news. He wanted to be angry, he wanted to scream and yell and cry because it wasn't fair that he had lost his dad, his fiancee, and now he was losing his best friend too. Noctis didn't trust his voice, and for now at least, chose not to respond. He'd work this out later, surely there was a way to reverse this.

All too soon, they arrived at the door to the imperial capital. Noctis didn't even hesitate before slamming the door open. He was angry, he was tired, he was losing everything in his life, and damn he just wanted it to stop. It was time to end this, once and for all.

The sound of the door slamming echoed through the hallway, but nothing stirred. Unperturbed, Noctis continued his determined march. He knew he should slow down, should be more cautious, but he was three-fourths of the way there and so far nothing had attacked him. His space sped up the closer he got to the door until he was running. Gladio and Ignis were yelling at him to slow down, but by now Noctis wasn't listening. He knew Ardyn was behind that door, and his vision went red.

Noctis was through the door first. He skidded to a halt and surveyed his surroundings. The only thing in the room was the Crystal, its light providing the only illumination for the room. Warily, Noctis approached the Crystal. Ardyn wasn't in the room, but that didn't mean he wasn't around. Noctis stopped before the Crystal, admiring it. He held his hand up, not quite touching the Crystal but close enough. "Please...help me stop the daemons."

As Noctis spoke, the Crystal begin emitting light that wrapped around his hand, it was warm, and then it was cold. He was being pulled into the Crystal, and no matter how much he struggled he couldn't get free.

From the shadows behind him, Ardyn appeared. Noctis knew Ardyn was speaking, but he couldn't hear past the roaring in his ears to understand what was going on. He was mostly in the Crystal now, and his vision was starting to waver. The door was thrown open and in marched Prompto, Gladiolus and Ignis nowhere to be seen.

No, that wasn't Prompto, Noctis thought as the blond stopped beside Ardyn. Noctis realized he was looking at an MT. Ardyn reached around to cup the blond's face. He made sure Noctis was looking straight at Prompto when he moved the blond's face into the light. Prompto's eyes were red, and past the roaring in his ears, Noctis could hear Ardyn give one final taunt before his vision went black.

"Looks like you were too late, little prince."


End file.
